For more than 18,000 days of Whitehorse history, private citizens in various communities in the city have taken daily measurements of our weather for Environment Canada's historical record.

The service has been in place since 1959, but today, available volunteers are dwindling.

Soon, there may be no one left to record neighbourhood weather data.

In Riverdale, the role belongs to retired meteorologist Michael Purves.

He's been doing the job since 2006 but has decided to move to Victoria on March 31 and wonders who will take over the position.

"Twice a day, I go outside and take down the measurements and send them to Vancouver,” he said in an interview Monday.

"I'm not sure what they do with them anymore, but if they want to keep it going, they'll have to find someone to take over the job.”

The data are collected much the same way they have been for the last five decades.

In Purves's backyard, beyond the greenhouse and a toolshed, is something called a Stevenson screen.

It's a freestanding, white wooden box that looks a bit like a birdhouse with Venetian blinds.

Inside the box are two thermometers and a small magnifying glass, which he uses to record daily maximum and current temperatures.

There is also a rain gauge which collects rainwater for measurement, a snow ruler for measuring depth and a snowboard sitting on top of his picnic table which he uses to measure daily snowfall during the winter months.

Checking each takes just a few minutes, and then a few more to enter the data onto Environment Canada's secure website.

It's a simple task that requires dedication and an abiding interest in local weather. Purves was the ideal candidate.

He worked for Environment Canada for 28 years in locations across the country but was laid off when the Whitehorse weather centre was moved south in 2006.

He worked for a time at Yukon College, and has since retired.

It's difficult to find someone with the time and interest to take up such a task.

At one time, as many as 6,000 amateur meteorologists kept daily weather records across the country, said Purves. These days, he said, the numbers are dwindling.

Locally, there is only Purves's and another volunteer-operated station off the Mayo Road.

"When I worked for Environment Canada, we had weather centres out in Porter Creek, on the Mayo Road, Wolf Creek,” he said.

"At the time, they were used both for climate data and for special readings for clients like Yukon Gardens Ltd., who were looking for speculative information on things like frost.”

With technological improvements throughout the industry and the increase in low-cost, private weather stations, operations like Purves's were relied less upon for local weather data.

Most of Whitehorse's public weather information comes from the NAV Canada weather observation station, located at the Whitehorse airport.

Environment Canada also has a weather monitoring station at the top of Two Mile Hill and the Yukon government has several small locations in the community, said Doug Lundquist, a sector specialist for Environment Canada.

There is even a private weather station located north of Whitehorse along the Takhini River, which the government follows online.

"Technology is only getting better and better,” said Lundquist, who is based in B.C.

"Because of volunteers with $500-$600 equipment, we can now get fairly adequate real-time information about local weather from members of the public.”

Where Purves's data are still useful, however, is in generating long-term, locally-specific climate data.

"When I would look to his information would be if I was trying to determine historical weather variances between Riverdale and the rest of the community,” said Lundquist.

"Really, we are very thankful that we have this unique information coming from him, and in a small way it will be a loss to us if he can't be replaced.”

Purves said a neighbour may be interested in taking up the task, but no final replacement has been confirmed.

He believes any loss of data is a loss to public knowledge.

"I would say it is a valuable service,” said Purves.

"If it were up to me, it would continue here, collecting information, and we'd have more observation centres, up in Granger or Copper Ridge, somewhere above the airport. It's important to have the local data.”

If there is a lack of interest, the job will most likely disappear.

"It would be sad to see that one go, but if we can't find anyone to replace him, it will disappear,” said Lundquist

"The weather station in Atlin, for instance, has a record that goes back to the 1800s, and when the woman who does that retires, we'll have to replace her as well, and if we can't, it will be gone. It's just how it goes.”

With growing concern over the environmental effects of climate change, Purves wonders why any data source, no matter how small, should be left abandoned.

"I've used it to look at climate change in the Yukon,” he said.

"I think it's a fair assumption to say that losing these stations, which record information over the long term, we are losing some data for things like climate change.

"We need people keeping records of what goes on in the Yukon and around the world, and however we can do that, the better off we are.”